We went to restaurant De Nederlanden (https://www.nederlanden.nl) in Vreeland (Duinkerken 3) in February 2020. We have been here several times before. The restaurant has one Michelin star since 1999 and restaurant De Nederlanden is part of Les Patrons Cuisiniers. The location is excellent, the restaurant is located next to a river. Some tables have a view to the river, but not all. In the summer time they serve food at the terrace and there all tables have views to the river. Wilco Berends is chef at De Nederlanden since 2006 and since 2012 owner of the restaurant and hotel together with his wife. We never stayed in the hotel.

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Interior

When we arrived nobody was at the reception. After a few seconds one of the waitresses saw us and notified somebody. As the party was not complete we decided to wait in the lobby next to the fireplace. The lobby is a good place to start your evening. In my opinion the lobby needs to become a bit more trendy. It is not in the same style as the restaurant. The eye catcher of the lobby is the fire place.

It was a cold stormy evening so it was a great spot to start our evening. We did not want to leave our hot spot, but as we were hungry we went to the main dining area when everybody arrived.

The dining area is beautiful decorated. White linen on the tables, a wooden floor, blue walls. Very tasteful. The front part of the dining area has views to the river.

Menu

Two different menus are served next to a la card. The first menu is a six course menu, but you can reduce it to 4 or 5 courses. The other menu is called “Prestige” menu and has 8 courses. The Prestige menu are the classics of the chef. We decided to go for the Prestige menu as we liked the ingredients better.

We received several bites together with our champagne. One was a cracker with gingerbread spices and blood sausage. A strange combination, we were not sure if we liked this or not. It tasted sweet with bitter. Another was crispy bread with peanuts presented in a large peanut with some peanuts in shell; and we received a cracker with coconut a sweet bite. This was also something unusual as the bites are normally savoury.

amuse bouche

Then the amuse bouche arrived: cream of coconut, ice cream of red chilies and carrots. The waiter advised us to eat everything together as the flavours had to be mixed. A great amuse bouche.

The amuse bouche was the best in my opinion as this was cold, creamy, spicy and sweet. What a great combination.

The first course was crab with foie gras. What a presentation and what an incredible combination. The dish was served in a crab and inside was fresh crab meat together with shaved duck liver. The creamy taste of the liver was a perfect match with the crab. As wine we received a Riesling with the crab.

The wine pairing was a premium wine pairing. Not with all dishes wine was served, the concept was 1 wine for 2 dishes. When the glass was empty the waitress poured more wine into the glass.

lobster

The second course was lobster in bouillabaisse. For a second dish out of eight it was a lot of lobster. A part of the body and a part of the claw was served in the bouillabaisse made of lobster and langoustine stock with lemon. On top of the lobster a mussel was served as well. The waiters poured the bouillabaisse on the table at the plate. The lemon took care that the bouillabaisse did not taste too fishy. We loved this dish very much.

We drunk the same Riesling with this dish. As lobster and crab are look alike it was a great wine for both dishes.

Coquille with cauliflower

The third dish was pan seared coquille with 3 preparations of cauliflower. A mousse of cauliflower, purple cooked cauliflower and a risotto made of cauliflower with cheese. The coquille was perfect of color, beautiful brown and seared in butter. Combination scallop-cauliflower is a match made in heaven. I have also a scallop with cauliflower dish on my blog (http://explorer4experience.com/scallops-with-cauliflower-and-saffron/).

I never saw purple cauliflower. The taste was like normal cauliflower, but it only had a different color. The risotto made of the roses from the cauliflower was very tasteful. A perfect cheesy taste.

As wine pairing we had a Chardonnay 2018 from the Bordeaux.

Turbot with truffle

The next dish was turbot with truffle, a blini and barley with lovage. The turbot and truffle was a great combination. Two luxurious ingredients that combine perfectly together. The al dente barley with lovage was beautiful green, the taste was perfect. Again a beautiful presentation, a beautiful piece of fish .

For the wine we received the Chardonnay again. As we liked it very much the glasses were filled again.

Quail with Chinese pancake.

The first meat / poultry dish was quail. According to the menu card the name of the dish is Peking Quail. Wow what a great dish was this (again). Two pieces of quail were served. One pan backed piece of quail with a crispy skin and a quail leg. The sauce was a hoisin sauce.

The pancake was filled with spring onions and topped with some hoisin sauce. It was a modern version of Beijing Duck.

With this dish we drunk a red wine from Italy. Amarone della Valpolicella 2015. An intense red wine with beautiful aromas.

Sweetbread

Two preparations of sweetbread followed as next course. Pan fried sweetbread and glazed sweetbread with hazelnut served with a jus from sweetbread and an asperge and a sugar snap. The sweetbread was a bit crispy from the outside and tender on the inside.

As wine pairing the Amarone was served.

deer with cherries

The main dish was perfect cooked deer with cherries, fill pastry with onion and cherry mousse. In my opinion, the deer was cooked sous-vide, and then pan fried. The jus was made from the deer as well. The onion was cut in a thick ring and was fried and topped with cherry mousse. A simple beautiful presentation but what a taste sensation….. We loved it.

As wine we had the Amaron as well.

6 Dutch cheeses

Then we opted for the cheese plate. The cheese car arrived; on the cheese car only Dutch cheeses. We asked for a surprise, with a good build up in taste. Everyone received 6 cheeses and some apple syrup with the cheese. On the table there was some bread and grapes.

The first two dishes were the same cheeses: drunken swallow. One with a crumb and one without crumb. The one with the crumb was more soft and less dried out. The waiter gave us on purpose two of the same cheeses with different preparation so we could taste the difference in cheese with and without the crumb. The one with crumb was my favorite as this was more creamy and had a bit more taste because of the crumbs.

We also received a cheese from Cothen and a Rijpenaar. The blue cheese was made of buffalo milk. It was less heavy then I was hoping for. A good assortment of cheese.

As wine pairing we received a Macvin de Jura: a Chardonnay. The wine smelled more like sherry, but it tasted like chardonnay. A combination I never had before. A good match with the cheese.

Apple

Our dessert was an apple made of white chocolate filled with panna cotta. On the plate was a dressing made of passion fruit and some ice cream. The flavors were so good, the sour passionfruit with the sweetness of apple. What an amazing dessert.

Souffle

Before our coffee and friandises we received a gift from the kitchen, served by Wilco Berends. We received a soufflé made of vanilla and cottage cheese with calamansi (kind of lime) ice cream. The soufflé was high and well risen. The taste was very good. The inside was a bit moisture.

Overall

We had a perfect evening with great food. Wilco Berends is a talented chef. He deserves his Michelin star. The staff is doing a good job, not perfect. They are a bit distant. Think they need to be a bit more loose. The restaurant is not posh so if staff is a bit more open I think this restaurant is even better then it is already.

We loved the prestige menu, what a beautiful luxurious ingredients. 8 dishes is a lot we were full, but we loved every bite.

My most favorite dish was the crab and liver especially because we received plenty of liver and the combination works perfect, however the lobster was also excellent.